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Worldwide: Cultural relativism, this era's fascism by Maryam Namazie

Excerpts from a speech given on cultural relativism given at a forum organized by the International Campaign in Defense of Women's Rights in Iran (ICDWRI).

In Germany, in August 1997, an 18-year-old woman was burnt to death by her father for refusing to marry the man he had chosen. A German court gave him a reduced sentence, saying he was practicing his culture and religion. In Iran, women and girls are forcibly veiled under threat of imprisonment and lashes, and cultural relativists say that it is their religion and must be respected. In Holland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that Iran's prisons are "satisfactory for third world standards," allowing the forcible return of asylum seekers.

Cultural relativism serves these crimes. It legitimizes and maintains savagery. It says that people's rights are dependent on their nationality, religion, and culture. It says that the human rights of someone born in Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan are different from those of someone born in the United States, Canada or Sweden.